24 August 2004	Tuesday	07 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The Opposition in the Senate on Monday blasted the government's policy on Iraq and condemned what it said was the barbaric bombing, and killing of large numbers of innocent Iraqi people.

The Senate debate on the Iraq situation was the third item on the agenda of the requisitioned House. Intervening in the debate, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri defended the government's foreign policy and refuted the charges that Pakistan had compromised its principles or ignored the popular sentiments of its people while dealing with the Iraq situation.

He said that the government had adopted a bipartisan foreign policy, and off and on has been taking the Opposition into confidence on national and international issues.

He recalled that Pakistan had openly and clearly opposed the US-led attack on Iraq and has continuously been criticising the aftermath of the attack. The foreign minister claimed that the Foreign Office's efforts had yielded results and a good number of Pakistani prisoners have been freed from the infamous American detention camp at Guantanamo Bay while some more are expected to be released.

He refuted the charges that Pakistan had taken a U turn on its Afghanistan policy and said "we had to join the international community following 9/11 after failing to convince the Taliban regime through a number of channels to submit to the call of the international community."

He said Pakistan did not invite USA to invade Afghanistan, nor did it ever support its invasion. Pakistan he said had been bearing the burden of some four million displaced Afghans for the last twenty years and was still accommodating 1.9 million of them.

Similarly, he said, we have never taken a U turn over Iraq nor have we succumbed to international pressures to send our troops there in the last two years. Instead, Pakistan asked for extension of the arms inspectors in Iraq to avoid an all-out attack on that country he said adding we have been demanding protection of Iraq's territorial integrity and preservation of its resources for its people, Mr Kasuri said.

He said it was in the interest of the entire Muslim Ummah that there should be peace in Iraq. Referring to the criticism against raids on religious seminaries he said we are faced with a situation when our home was a target of terrorism and the entire nation, including of course the Opposition, will not tolerate the destruction of our own home.

Earlier, opening the debate, Prof Khurshid Ahmed of MMA said while all the US claims vis-a-vis WMDs and linkage with Al-Qaeda have been found to be false, yet it was shamelessly destroying Iraqi cities and killing hundreds of innocent Iraqis every day.

He called for an emergency OIC meeting and to tell the US that enough is enough and it should pack up from Iraq. The people of Iraq, instead of submitting to the brutal force, have taken up arms and were bravely resisting the foreign occupation of their homeland.

He warned that the entire Muslim world would come under the US threat if it was not defeated in Iraq and was forced to leave. Other speakers included Ishaq Dar parliamentary leader of PML (Nawaz group) and Dr Ismail Buledi of the MMA. The House was adjourned till Tuesday morning.